I never really was much of a Who fan. I was familiar with a fair amount of their popular hits, and had dabbled in listening to some of their albums throughout my fairly brief existence on this planet, but never really felt much connection or excitement with the music. However, a friend of mine recently introduced me to some of their live material; that’s when I realized just how ignorant I was all along.

Most people are actually quite familiar with The Who’s crazy live repertoire (my ignorance was in the minority) but I still feel the urge to point out the obvious: Keith Moon’s drumming is frantic and insane; John Entwistle has the coolest bass style of probably anyone to have ever played rock music; Pete Townshend conjures tones from his Hiwatt stacks that sound like demons riding a chainsaw; and Roger Daltrey supplies the perfect vocals to carry the band powerfully from song to song.

It’s good stuff. I wish more modern bands could compete with the raw, on-stage energy that The Who dish out consistently from track to track. It’s a total domination of the stage and audience, and it’s totally awesome even 40+ years later.

Music

Live at Leeds

I never really was much of a Who fan. I was familiar with a fair amount of their popular hits, and had dabbled in listening to some of their albums throughout my fairly brief existence on this planet, but never really felt much connection or excitement with the music. However, a friend of mine recently introduced me to some of their live material; that’s when I realized just how ignorant I was all along.

Most people are actually quite familiar with The Who’s crazy live repertoire (my ignorance was in the minority) but I still feel the urge to point out the obvious: Keith Moon’s drumming is frantic and insane; John Entwistle has the coolest bass style of probably anyone to have ever played rock music; Pete Townshend conjures tones from his Hiwatt stacks that sound like demons riding a chainsaw; and Roger Daltrey supplies the perfect vocals to carry the band powerfully from song to song.

It’s good stuff. I wish more modern bands could compete with the raw, on-stage energy that The Who dish out consistently from track to track. It’s a total domination of the stage and audience, and it’s totally awesome even 40+ years later.